‘Voices on the path’

Voices on the path: a history of walking in Wales is the first major history of walking to be written about any part of Britain.

It tracks the footsteps of walkers in Wales down the ages – pilgrims and drovers, poets and protestors, tourists, tramps, hikers and many others. Some of them are well-known, others obscure, but together their testimony offers a fresh lens on the history of Wales and of walking.

Andrew Green
Voices on the path
Llanrwst: Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, 2024
352 p.
978-1-84527-952-3
£14.99

The book begins with the footprints of Mesolithic people in the intertidal mud of the Severn estuary, and ends with strollers on Swansea’s promenade today.  Along the way the reader is invited to rest and spend time with some of the most interesting walkers, including Gerald of Wales, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Francis Kilvert, George Borrow, Anne Lister, Ursula Martin, Hannah Engelkamp and Delyth Jenkins. Readers will also meet a host of other remarkable walkers, many of them little known, and, through the eyes of walkers, will learn much about how Welsh people lived, and how Wales was seen by people from outside.


Voices on the path is fully illustrated and will interest anyone interested in walking, the social history of Wales, including traditions of pilgrimage, industrial labour, protest, language, tourism and recreation, and the history of literature in both Welsh and English.  While not an academic book, its end-notes and detailed index will allow readers to follow up the numerous printed and manuscript sources used.


Voices on the path was published in October 2024.  You’re welcome to come to one of the remaining events arranged to mark publication:

Sunday 5 January, 5:00pm
Dei Tomos, Radio Cymru
Available on BBC Sounds

Monday 6 January, 7:30pm
Rhys Mwyn, Radio Cymru
Available on BBC Sounds

Thursday 6 February, 3:00pm
‘Ramblings’, BBC Radio 4
A walk with Claire Balding at Capel-y-Ffin (Darren Lwyd and Cwm Nant Bwch)
(Repeated on Saturday 8 February at 6:09am.)
Available on BBC Sounds.


Thursday 13 March, 7:30pm
Book-ish, Crickhowell
Part of the Crickhowell Walking Festival

Thursday 20 March, 6:30pm
Book Space
Crwys Road, Cardiff

Wednesday 26 March, 6:00pm
Waterstone’s
Oxford Street, Swansea

Wednesday 16 April, 7:00pm
Goldstone Books
Hall Street, Carmarthen

Tuesday 29 April, 5:00pm
Wrexham
Wrexham Carnival of Words

Sunday 8 June, 12:00 noon
Montgomery
Montgomeryshire Literature Festival

Tuesday 17 March 2026, 7:15pm
Grange-over-Sands
Grange over Sands Lecture Society


… the author has also achieved two very unusual feats.

One is to pay appropriate attention to women in history. Although all the famous people listed above are men, you will also find here women walkers like Elizabeth Smith, who climbed Yr Wyddfa in 1798 (p.103 – and yes, Welsh mountains are given their proper names too) and Anne Lister, who visited the Ladies of Llangollen in 1822 (pp.147 -150). The stories of several adventurous women also feature in the last chapters of the book, from Ursula Martin, who walked 3,700 miles along the public footpaths of Wales in 2014-5 (pp. 260-4) and Hannah Engelkamp, who walked the Coastal Path in the company of a donkey called Chico (pp. 264-8) …

And the other feat? To write a book about travel in Wales which pays appropriate attention to the languages and cultures of our country. In these pages you can read about the experiences of William Wordsworth and R. Williams Parry, about Guto’r Glyn and Robert Graves. You will also read some of the remarkably ignorant and prejudiced comments made by visitors to Wales over the centuries. Andrew Green puts all of them in their context with thorough knowledge and gentle humour. This book would make a perfect Christmas present for anyone who enjoys walking and especially those who enjoy women’s history too!

Dr Elin Jones, Women’s Archive Wales Newsletter, December 2024


For anyone interested in the history of Wales or walking, this book offers a comprehensive examination of walking as something deeply embedded in the culture and history of Wales. More than a history book, it is an evocative journey in the company of people who walked the land over the centuries, interwoven with extensive research and the author’s personal connection with the landscape.

Green has succeeded in creating a volume that is on the one hand scholarly without being heavy, and is also an example of lively and lyrical writing that celebrates the act of walking as something central to Welsh identity …

These personal reflections are balanced with an examination of social and environmental issues, particularly the impact of cars on walking culture. As the author notes, the arrival of the car was a fundamental change to people’s relationship with walking, relegating it almost as an activity from the past or something to be kept for leisure purposes only. Again, Green suggests that walking has never disappeared. Instead, he argues for the possibility of seeing it have some kind of resurrection, especially in the face of environmental challenges, emphasizing that walking is a sustainable and democratic way of travelling that has the power to restore links with nature and foster a sense of belonging.

One of the most interesting aspects in the book is the attention to the emotional and spiritual dimensions of walking. Discussing pilgrimages and protest walks, the author shows how walking was a deep expression of belief, identity and solidarity. From religious pilgrims to miners marching in protest, attention is drawn to how walking can serve as an act of resistance and a means of personal transformation.

In his postscript, Green appeals to the reader to embrace walking as one path towards tackling climate change and urban overcrowding. He frames it as not just a nostalgic return to an old way of life but as a meaningful choice that goes hand in hand with a healthier and more connected way of life.

Overall, this is a celebration of Wales which is a call for a return to deliberate, thoughtful walking. The book will appeal to anyone interested in the intersections of history, nature and cultural identity. It is an extremely interesting and evocative journey through the paths of Wales, inviting readers to consider their relationship with the simple but profound act of putting one foot in front of the other and moving forward.

Nici Beech, Gwales, December 2024


Voices on the path, [Andrew Green’s] newly published history of walking in Wales, is an extended paean to the joys of bipedal rambling, whether for a purpose or for pure pleasure. The author begins with the evocative Mesolithic footprints preserved in the intertidal mud of the Severn Estuary and ends with the Slow Ways movement, which aims to create a national network of paths linking every settlement in Britain, a ‘superhighway of dreams and adventures’.

The book uncovers some remarkable stories, including that of the first documented account of a long-distance walk in Wales – undertaken by Giraldus Cambrensis in 1188 – and of the best-preserved medieval road in Britain, the Monks’ Trod, a 24-mile path engineered by the Cistercians in the 12th century to link their monasteries at Abbey Cwmhir and Strata Florida, and still very much in use today (sadly, though, by damaging off-road vehicles as well as walkers).

One vivid passage in the book describes the extraordinary history of cattle-droving, an important contributor to the wealth of Wales from the 17th to the early 20th centuries.

Christopher Catling, Current Archaeology, 419, December 2024.


Voices from the path is made with a scholarly discipline. Twenty pages of detailed notes open a portal to a rich range of sources. An index of nineteen pages completes a book that blends erudition and scale with a relish for what has been a most simple source of satisfaction and pleasure throughout the ages.

Adam Somerset, Theatre in Wales, January 2025.


From hunters and pilgrims to explorers and scientists, Andrew Green’s authoritative history of walking in Wales is an unmissable journey through the story of Wales, its people and its landscape … it’s a substantial authoritative piece of work, enhanced with fascinating illustrations and excellent notes for anyone who wants to dig deeper.

Jenny White, Western Mail, 18 January 2025